Celebrating Soviet Architecture

In his new book, Cosmic Communist Constructions Photographed (Taschen, $60), lensman Frédéric Chaubin explores an often-overlooked period of Soviet architecture: 1970 to 1990. Over seven years Chaubin—editor in chief of the French magazine Citizen K—traveled the hinterlands and metropolitan centers of the 15 former Soviet republics to capture 90 jaw-droppingly odd, innovative, and beautiful buildings from the latter days of the Communist regime. Click through our slide show to see highlights from the book.

The Georgian Ministry of Highways in Tbilisi, Georgia, a 1974 structure designed by George Chakhava, Zurab Dzhalaganiya, Temur Tkhilava, and V. Klinberg.